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Chinese military planes enter ADIZ, as Tsai set to meet McCarthy

ROC Central News Agency

04/04/2023 02:50 PM

Taipei, April 4 (CNA) A total of 20 Chinese military aircraft and three warships were detected in areas around Taiwan from 6 a.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND).

Chinese military aircraft flew 20 times in Taiwan's general vicinity, and in one of them, a high-altitude, long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Harbin BZK-005 used for reconnaissance crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the MND said in a statement Tuesday.

Eight flights, seven of which were flown by J-16s fighter jets and one by a Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane, shot into the southwestern part of Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the MND said.

The ministry did not release the flight paths of the other planes or identify or disclose the path of the three warships spotted in areas around Taiwan.

It noted, however, as it always does when talking about incursions of People's Liberation Army aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ, that the military scrambled combat air and naval patrols and deployed defense missile systems to track the Chinese military aircraft and warships.

The latest sortie of Chinese military aircraft and warships, which was generally in line -- both in terms of flight numbers and where they went -- with similar sorties in recent weeks, came as U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced overnight he would meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in California on Wednesday.

Tsai will be in California at the end of an overseas trip that has taken her to New York, Guatemala, and Belize.

Asked about the planned meeting between McCarthy and Tsai, Mao Ning (毛寧), a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said on Monday that Beijing strongly opposes "any form of official interaction and contact between the U.S. side and Taiwan authorities" and "will take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

In a statement, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday that China's reaction to Tsai's transit in the United States was "ridiculous and unfounded."

MOFA said China's aim to take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity regarding Tsai's trip was "divorced from reality" as Taiwan has never been part of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and the PRC has never ruled Taiwan.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) is an independent sovereign nation that has the right to decide to engage with any other countries, MOFA said, and Taipei will not accept interference or suppression or be deterred by threats by any other country.

Tensions across the Taiwan Strait escalated after then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, McCarthy's predecessor, made a 19-hour visit to Taipei in August 2022.

That prompted China to launch massive military exercises around Taiwan a few days later, and since then, Chinese military planes have repeatedly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, showing Beijing's intention to set up a new normal toward Taiwan.

(By Huang Ya-shih, Y.F. Low and Frances Huang)

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